Take Your Aim When You Take A Shot
by TwilightVampire92
Summary: AU of "All Fall's Down Pt.2" Someone still brings a knife to Degrassi. This time, the outcome's not quite the same as in the show.  *not* a Deathfic.  EClare. Spoilers for AFD part 2. Language, violence, angst, and some schmoop. reviews love, people.


**A/N:** This is an AU of All Fall's Down Part 2. Written for myself and my cousin because as much as we loved Boiling Point's ending...we wanted more.

Title taken from Oceanship's song 'Hotblack'.

(Also, 's being stupid and messing with my coding, so sorry in advance for any run on's or whatever)

* * *

She couldn't hear above the rush of blood in her ears, the echoes in the empty halls as her feet slammed against the ground, willing herself to _move faster_.

She couldn't think beyond the thoughts of finding Eli and getting the _hell out._

She _needed_ to find him, had to make sure he was alright. _'Whatever Fitz does to you, you deserve'_ played on constant loop in her head and she would never be able to forgive herself if that was the last thing she ever got to say to him.

She turned a corner frantically and breathed a breath of relief when she saw the familiar red jacket, the mussed up black hair, and gaze straight ahead but not looking at anything, completely lost in thought as the music blared through his earbuds. _Eli, thank God._

She ran over to him and yanked the buds out of his ear, grabbing his wrists and rushing her words out in a harsh breath, "Come with me, Fitz has a knife."

**...**

_Stupidstupidstupid._

That's all Eli could think as he popped in his earbuds and turned on his iPod, yelling at himself in his head that he better not damn cry here in a dark hallway at his high school while his…girlfriend (_if she still even wants me)_ was with that bastard.

He left himself fall against the lockers and just barely resisted slamming his head against them repeatedly. First Julia and now Clare. He hurt everyone he cared about...maybe it was for the best that all this was happening.

He contemplated just going home when out of nowhere white and blonde and _blue…damn, her eyes are so blue_ filled his vision and was ripping out his earbuds.

He didn't even get a word out before she was talking, "Come with me, Fitz has a knife." And just like that, his heart began thudding in his chest.

"This is where we _run_, let's _go_!" Clare's frantic voice broke through his thoughts, pulling at his arms ineffectually.

Fitz…_what_? A million questions began filling his head; are you okay? Did he hurt you? Why the hell were you looking for me when you should've been protecting yourself…?

"I'm not gunna let that jerk scare me," is what came out of his mouth instead.

"Eli, he has a _knife_." She repeated, eyes glossing over, voice raising in so high in pitch that she was almost hysterical as she continued to try and pull him off of the lockers and out of Degrassi.

He bit the inside of his lip and minutely shook his head, about to open his mouth and reply when a voice down the hall called out, _"Aw, don't you two look cute."_

Eli didn't miss Clare's body jump and her eyes widen infinitesimally and she turned to look down the hall at Fitz.

They both turned and watched as Fitz walked down the hallway, smirk firmly in place and knife held at his side as he came closer, Clare and Eli both subconsciously taking steps back towards the locked exit door.

Eli heard Clare's trembling breath next to him before she took a step forward, "You should go," she answered him in a surprisingly calm voice, terror masked by a sudden bravery Eli had no idea she possessed.

"And let Pretty Boy make time with my date?" He asked, pointing over to Eli as he finished closing the gap between them, eyes almost lighting up at how fucking _scared_ the two of them suddenly looked.

"Please, Fitz…don't do this—"

"Shut up, bitch!" Fitz yelled angrily, all but draining away Clare's false bravado as she stumbled backwards, closer to Eli.

She suddenly felt a gentle hand on her elbow and turned to look towards Eli. Before she could think of what was happening, he was pushing her away, "Get away from me," he said quietly, taking his eyes off of Fitz and onto her. She stumbled backwards until she hit the lockers, quietly sobbing as she tried to reach out for him, to pull him with her to safety, but he dropped his hand and returned his gaze to Fitz.

"Look, I'm sorry about before, about _everything_. You win." Eli told Fitz, trying to get him to understand that it was done, _over_. He wouldn't mess with Fitz anymore or do anything like that to fuck up his chances with Clare again. He just wanted to it all to be finished.

Fitz nodded but instead of backing off, he just came closer, "Heard that before." He replied, shoving Eli's chest hard enough to back him up a few steps.

Clare didn't even realizing that her body had begun moving, but she was suddenly off of the lockers and moving closer, breathing raggedly through her mouth as she continued to watch what was unfolding in front of her in disbelief.

"Stop, I'm serious." Eli said quietly, glancing down at the knife before looking back up into Fitz's eyes.

"So am I." Fitz answered, voice rising as he pushed him back again. "You've had this coming for a while." Fitz began to close in on Eli, making him walk back farther and farther back. Every step Eli took backwards, Clare took forward, like a magnet or a tether keeping them together, she couldn't let this happen.

"What's wrong Emo Boy? Out of smartass comments?" Fitz taunted him, shoving Eli back hard enough to slam him in into the wall next to the exit door, adjusting his hold on the knife.

"Please, don't do this." Eli asked, desperation and fear coloring his voice as he looked down at the knife and back up at Fitz again, eyes begin to pool on their own accord.

"Someone's gotta shut you up." Fitz told him angrily, pulling his arm back.

They were so focused on each other that neither had noticed Clare coming up on their side and it was too late to do anything about it as Fitz swung the knife just as Clare pushed Eli out of the way. For a heartbeat, a soft sudden intake of air was the only noise in the hallway, the white and blond and blue of before now becoming _redredred_ as Eli sat in shock, , and then reality crashed back in as Clare fell to the floor.

"…C-Clare. Shit, _Clare_." Eli breathed out as he scrambled to his knees and over to her side, moving her so she was half in his lap, mumbling apologies as she cried out softly from the pain from being moved.

"Shh…s'ok, I swear…everything's gunna be okay, j-just focus on me." Eli said shakily, pushing the hair gently away from her face and trying to stop his body from trembling at the same time that he covered her bloody hand in his, keeping pressure on the wound.

Fitz didn't realize he was still looking at his now-bloody knife until a drop of red hit the floor, making him drop the knife almost as if he was suddenly burned, "I-I…that, this was just supposed to be a…a joke. I just wanted to scare you…I never…I—"

"Just shut the hell up and get help!" Eli yelled angrily at him just as a voice called out '_Hands up!' _from down the hall.

"E-Eli…"

Eli looked back down to Clare, her face bleached white from the pain and a sheen of sweat beginning to appear.

"Clare…I'm so sorry…this is all my fault, you should've never—"

"Shu…shut up. You didn't do…anything."

Eli didn't realize he had started crying until a drop rolled off of his face and onto Clare's cheek. Before he could say anything else, they were surrounded by police officers. Fitz was being hauled off in cuffs, the bloody knife was being placed into a plastic bag for evidence and Clare was being ripped out of him arms and onto a stretcher. He hadn't even realized he was being moved outside until Adam was suddenly at his side shooting off questions, Simpson not too far behind and Degrassi was being lit up by a sea of blue and red.

**...**

Almost 6 hours later and Eli was sitting in the waiting room of the hospital, still in his outfit from the dance…all except for his red jacket. Stains from Clare's blood mixed with the fabric and Eli tore it off with bloody hands, leaving it with Adam and instructions to burn it before he headed for his car and followed the ambulance to the hospital.

The whole way there his body and mind were numb. Thinking back on it, he had no idea how he even managed to drive to the hospital without getting himself killed.

Thinking back on it…he realized it's probably what he would've deserved. He's the reason Julie was dead…and he was the reason Clare was _here_, in the hospital and probably fighting for her life.

It's all his fucking fault, every bit of it. He couldn't put the blame on Fitz even if he wanted to. Because _he_ was the reason Fitz had a knife in the first place.

All my _fault._

"Eli?"

His head snapped up as his name was called and he looked over as Mrs. Edwards walked into the waiting room, eyes red and puffy from crying.

_Nonono_.

"Is she—" He suddenly couldn't breathe. The room was spinning, the blood was draining from his face and he was two seconds away from completely _losing it._

But then Clare's mom simply shook her head and her lips formed what he was assuming was an attempt at a smile.

"She'll be okay, Eli. The um…_knife_ didn't hit anything major. Almost did…but she was lucky enough to not be hurt too badly. It bled profusely, she needed a transfusion…but the doctors say she'll be fine."

_She'll be fine_. Three words were all it took for the world to snap back into place and for his lungs to remember how to take in oxygen again.

"Is she…c-can I see her?" He asked quietly, needing to see with his own eyes that she was okay after having her blood on his hands just hours before.

"Well…the doctors said she shouldn't exert herself but—"

"_Please._" Eli asked, biting his lip to keep himself together.

"_But_, I think it would be okay for you to see her for a few minutes. After all, you have been sitting here for hours. And if my daughter…if my daughter took a knife for you, you must be pretty important to her." Mrs. Edwards said the last part quietly, eyes welling up again, but this time she gave him a small smile and asked him to follow her.

"Not too long, Eli." She whispered to him by the doorway before turning back down the hallway and disappearing from sight.

"You just gunna stand there all night, Goldsworthy?" Eli looked over to the bed in the middle of the room and saw Clare smiling tiredly at him, eyes open halfway but still _so blue_ even from where he stood.

"Demanding as always, Edwards," Eli replied as he walked into the room and closed the door almost fully behind him, giving them the guise of privacy…or as much as they could have in a hospital room.

There were machines and wires surrounding the bed, IV drips in the crook of her arm and in the veins on top of her hand. The blanket over her body covered her stitched-up wound, but he still glanced down at her body to where he knew it was.

"Eli…I'm okay." Clare whispered as he sat down in the seat next to the bed, but he still couldn't take his eyes off of everything around her.

"I'm so sorry Clare…none of this would've happened if it weren't for me. I shouldn't even be here, I should just—"

"Hey, look at me…I'm _okay_." She said again, reaching over and grabbing his hand in hers, tugging it gently.

"And stop blaming yourself…not like you told Fitz to bring a knife." She added quietly, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, tiredly.

"I should go…you need to rest and—"

"Don't leave me," Her grip on his hand tightened minutely and he glanced down at their hands before looking back up to her face, "Please."

He rubbed his thumb back and forth across the top of her hand and nodded, sitting back in his seat as she closed her eyes again.

"You're worth it, you know." She said after a minutes even though Eli was sure she had gone to sleep.

"What?"

"All of it. Having to go to the dance with Fitz…pissing of Mr. Simpson…even this."

"Clare, I—"

"You _are_, Eli. You're worth it…boyfriend." She said the last part quietly, voice rising slightly, almost making it a question.

Eli looked back up to see her staring at him and he smiled slightly before standing and leaning over the bed, brushing his lips against hers gently before sitting back down and laying his other hand over both of theirs.

"I'll make sure I stay worth it to you then. Girlfriend."

She smiled again before closing her eyes, her breath evening out, and falling asleep with her boyfriend at her side.

.End.


End file.
